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Spain: Anarchists Assemble Picket Lines For Ikea Dispute

We request solidarity from all the Sections of the AIT / IWA and international affiliates regarding a labour conflict between our comrade and FOLDECO DEVELOPMENT S.L, a company he had been working at for almost three years. After our colleague suffered from workplace harassment by the company’s management, including xenophobic insults and even physical aggression, we have made the pertinent complaints and taken legal action. We are also taking action against one of its main customers, and therefore accomplice; the multinational IKEA, for whom FOLDECO manufactured furniture parts.

A Just Transition To A New, Greener Life

My blood is as black as coal. We’re all miners in my family: niece, daughter, granddaughter, sister, cousin, wife, mother... It’s not like I was born with a piece of coal in my hand, but almost, like everybody else in these parts. When the coal mine shut down, it was a total disaster. There was no work. Young people started to leave, the villages became desolate, businesses closed. You carry those roots deep inside you. We are a different kind of people. We see things from a different perspective. You get used to living with fear. You make it your ally. When I was little I saw how nervous my  mother was for my father. Later I was the same when my husband and my son also went down the mines.

Social And Solidarity Economy: Views From US, Spain And Latin America

The Latin American and Iberian Institute was pleased to host this virtual panel, The Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) Movement: Perspectives from the U.S., Spain and Latin America. Topics covered include: The Barcelona Experience with Local Economic Democracy by Dr. Santiago Eizaguirre Anglada; Latin American Solidarity Economic Circuits and SSE Networks by Euclides Mance and the Social and Solidarity Economy in the United States: Progress and Challenges by Yvonne Yen Liu.

The CIA Suit And New Proof It Spied On Assange

The plaintiffs, all U.S. citizens who visited Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, claim in their lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency and former Director Mike Pompeo that their devices were surveilled at the embassy while seeing Assange. The C.I.A. has filed a motion to dismiss the case, but new evidence has emerged in a Spanish court case that provides further proof that the Spanish security company UC Global was contracted by the C.I.A. to spy on Assange 24/7 and on his visitors, including on privileged conversations with his lawyers. New files were discovered by Assange’s lawyers in Madrid that give direct evidence that UC Global was working for the C.I.A.

Lessons From Barcelona’s Eight-Year Experiment In Radical Governance

In May 2015, this slogan was the rallying cry of a Spanish movement that startled its country’s political establishment by propelling into power Ada Colau, Barcelona’s first female mayor. Colau took office alongside a winning slate of city councilors who had joined together in a new formation called Barcelona en Comú, Catalan for “Barcelona in Common.” Their victory reflected a decision by activists to move from occupying the town squares to taking over city halls, and it would have profound consequences for the future of one of Europe’s most prominent metropolitan areas. Eight years later, Ada Colau and the Comuns, as they are referred to locally, face a different political situation.

What Barcelona Can Teach New York City About Affordable Housing

Earlier this month I visited Barcelona, Spain’s second largest city, where my sister has been studying abroad. We did all of the major tourist hits: we ate tapas, took a cable car to the top of Montjuïc, drank sangria, strolled through Park Güell, one of Antoni Gaudί’s signature works. We were captured by the beauty of the massive, rainbow stained glass windows of the Sagrada Familia church. I babbled to my family about superblocks, Barcelona’s innovative street design model, intended to decrease car use and air pollution while increasing access to public space. Yet the thing I found most striking about Barcelona was its rapidly growing social and public housing stock.

Hundreds Of Thousands Rally Across Spain Against Attack On Public Health

Spain - On Sunday, February 12, massive mobilizations took place in several cities across Spain, organized by health workers, trade unions, and left-wing groups. The protesters demanded an improvement in public health services, which are currently suffering from a lack of resources and understaffing. Protesters at a major mobilization in Madrid, attended by hundreds of thousands of people, condemned the apathy of the regional government led by the conservative People’s Party (PP) towards the needs of the public health sector. They also protested bids to privatize health care. The march in Madrid was organized by several organizations, including the Federation of Associations in Defense of Public Health (FADSP), and was backed by political groups including Communist Party of Spain (PCE), Podemos, the Communist Party of the Workers of Spain (PCTE), and others.

Barcelona City Cuts All Official Ties With Israel

Barcelona, Spain - Ada Colau, Mayor of Barcelona, announced on Wednesday, February 8, her city’s temporary suspension of all official relations with Israel over its apartheid practices and systematic violations of Palestinian rights in the occupied territories. Colau wrote a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday announcing the decision to suspend relations with Israel. She also announced that the twinning agreement with the Tel Aviv city council, signed in 1998, was suspended “until the Israeli authorities put an end to the system of violations of the Palestinian people and fully comply with the obligations imposed on them by the international law and the various United Nations resolutions.” Colau clarified that the decision was solely related to the institutional relationship between authorities in Barcelona and Israel, and did not affect relationships between the residents of Israel and the city.

Health Workers And People Unite In The Struggle For Primary Care

Madrid, Spain - Family physicians and primary level pediatricians in the region of Madrid are preparing to go on strike on Monday, November 21. The health workers are fighting against problems that have burdened primary care services for a long time, including overload of work. “All the time we are being told that primary care is the base of the health system. But the base is falling down, and no one seems to care”, says Elena Polentinos Castro, primary health care physician and member of the Society for Family and Community Medicine (semFYC). The industrial action will take place only a week after hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Madrid demanding a better health system. Earlier, in October, more than 50,000 did the same.

Spanish Lawmaker: NATO Subordinates Europe To US

A Spanish lawmaker has condemned the NATO summit that was held in Madrid this June, denouncing the US-led military alliance for advocating for more war and pushing to enrich the weapons industry while Europeans suffer from inflation and an energy crisis. On the floor of Spain’s parliament, leftist Deputy Gerardo Pisarello argued that “the NATO summit was not organized to strengthen the cause of peace,” but rather “was organized basically to reinforce the geostrategic priorities of the United States… above all to weaken China.”

Thousands Take To Streets Against Upcoming NATO Summit In Madrid

Thousands of people took to the streets of Madrid, Spain, on Sunday, June 26, in opposition to the upcoming summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the city. Protesters called NATO a threat to global peace and demanded its dissolution. The organizers stated that close to 30,000 people participated in the protest, holding banners and posters with slogans such as “No to NATO, Not to War, For Peace”. They also raised slogans against US military bases in Spain and asked for their removal. The protest was organized by a set of groups including the Communist Youth, the youth wing of the Communist Party of Spain, as well as Platform for Peace, World Federation of Democratic Youth, and others.

Algeria To Suspend Friendship Treaty, Imports From Spain

Algeria announced suspension of its two decade-old-treaty of friendship with Spain on Wednesday, June 8. It also announced the suspension of all imports from the European country over its decision to support Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara. The Algerian President’s office said in a statement on Wednesday that it is suspending the long-term treaty with Spain, called the “treaty of friendship, good neighborliness and cooperation,” signed in 2002. A statement issued by the Algerian Banking Association later declared that the government had also decided to suspend imports of all goods and services from Spain. According to the Algerian government, the decision to suspend political, economic, financial, educational and defense ties with Spain was taken after it supported the Moroccan position on occupied Western Sahara earlier this year in March.

Spanish Court Summons Mike Pompeo To Testify On CIA Plot

Spain’s National High Court has summoned former CIA director and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to give testimony on a massive spying operation he allegedly orchestrated against Julian Assange and a related Trump administration plot to kidnap or assassinate the WikiLeaks publisher in London. The summons, revealed by ABC Spain last Friday, was issued by National High Court Judge Santiago Pedraz. It reportedly compels Pompeo, along with former US National Counterintelligence and Security Center director William Evanina to testify before a Spanish court, either in person or by video link, later this month. Pompeo and Evanina have been subpoenaed in a criminal case against Davis Morales, a former Spanish marine who headed the UC Global private security firm.

Spain Abandons Former Colony In The Western Sahara

Spain has announced that it has endorsed a proposal by the Kingdom of Morocco to designate the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) as an “autonomous” region within the North African state. Former United States President Donald Trump in 2020, recognized Moroccan control over the Western Sahara in an attempt to strengthen relations between the Kingdom and the State of Israel. Formerly known as the “Spanish Sahara”, the people of the territory have been demanding national independence for decades. All of the former colonies of Europe within the African continent have sought independence from the former imperialist masters. Although there are 55 African countries which are members of the African Union (AU) and the United Nations, the phenomenon of neo-colonialism has hampered genuine liberation and continental unification.

Spain Unveils Economic Recovery Plan Amid Pandemic

Spain’s prime minister unveiled a major plan Wednesday to boost his country out of recession by spending 140 billion euros ($162 billion) of European Union aid to reshape the economy, with the aim of creating 800,000 jobs over the next three years. The program is a response to the sharp downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic and its worldwide disruption of economies. The plan focuses primarily on getting Spain to transition to green energy and a digital economy, which will take up about 70% of the financing.
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